He works as a guard in this godforsaken place, living in constant fear. The meager resources he earns are barely enough to make ends meet, not even enough to satisfy the demands of those researchers in white coats.
If I can make a big profit, then I can leave this place of trouble safely...
Old Joe's breathing became heavy. He stared intently at the potion in Lu Zhaoming's hand, then stole a glance at the bottomless darkness behind Lu Zhaoming, as if he could see golden resources beckoning to him.
"Gulp." He swallowed hard, his voice hoarse as he asked, "You...you're telling the truth?"
“I, Lu Zhaoming, always keep my word.” Lu Zhaoming toyed with the potion bottle in his hand, his smile unchanged. “Of course, if you think I’m bragging, or if you want to tell the people in white robes, that’s fine with you. But, you know, I have a bit of a temper, and I might not be so gentle with friends who don’t cooperate.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a faint but palpable killing intent spread out. Old Qiao felt a chill run down his neck, as if he were being stared at by some ferocious beast. His legs went weak, and he almost knelt down.
He had no doubt that the smiling young man in front of him could definitely do what he said he would do.
"No...no! I'll talk! I'll talk!" Old Joe completely chickened out; greed finally overcame his pitiful professional ethics and fear.
He rummaged around in his pocket for a while before finally pulling out a crumpled, simple map drawn with charcoal on some kind of animal hide. He handed it over, his hand trembling slightly.
“This…this is a drawing I made from memory. I’ve marked the locations of the core area of the experimental base and some…some defense systems.” Old Joe’s voice was so soft it was like a mosquito’s hum. “Those white-robed bastards are guarding against everything more strictly than anyone else. There are traps and patrolling cyborgs everywhere.”
Lu Zhaoming took the map and nodded in satisfaction.
Although it's rudimentary, it contains all the key information, and with the system scan, it's sufficient.
He unfolded the map and quickly scanned it. Suddenly, his gaze fell on a small red dot on the edge of the map. The dot was drawn crookedly, and there was a small arrow next to it pointing to a seemingly insignificant area.
“This place…” Lu Zhaoming pointed to the red dot and asked casually, “Brother, what’s this place for? It seems pretty remote. Is there anything special about it?”
When Old Joe saw the red dot, his expression instantly became somewhat unnatural, and his eyes began to dart around. He stammered, "That...that place, it's nothing, just...an abandoned storage room, used to store odds and ends."
"Oh? Is that so?" Lu Zhaoming raised an eyebrow, his roguish smile deepening. He tapped the red dot lightly with his finger. "Brother, my eyesight isn't great, but my intuition tells me this place isn't as simple as it seems. If you tell the truth now, the previous conditions will remain the same. But if I go in and discover something myself... well, that's another story."
He deliberately emphasized the words "hard to say," and with his deep, penetrating eyes that seemed to see right through people, Old Qiao felt a chill run from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.
Under Lu Zhaoming's intensely oppressive gaze, Old Qiao's forehead broke out in a fine sweat. After struggling for a while, he finally slumped his shoulders and said dejectedly, "I'll talk, I'll talk... That... that's a secret database of the White Robes. It's said that... it stores all their experimental data, including... including the design blueprints for that 'psychological suggestion device' that can control people's minds!"
Design drawings for a psychological suggestion device!
Upon hearing this, Lu Zhaoming, Xiao Dao, and Liu Gang, who were hiding in the shadows, were all shocked!
If this thing falls into the hands of someone with malicious intent, the harm it could cause would be enormous!
Old Joe seemed afraid that Lu Zhaoming would change his mind, so he hurriedly added, "But I'm warning you, whatever you do, don't touch that blood-red metal door at the end of the living area! I heard from the handymen inside that it's the White Robe Leader's private domain. Anyone who gets close will die. Even those cyborgs don't dare to go there easily!" As he spoke, he shuddered with lingering fear, as if that door was some kind of monster.
Lu Zhaoming nodded thoughtfully, carefully put away the map, and then tossed the bottle of "highly effective regeneration agent" to Old Joe: "Very good, it's been a pleasure working together. I'm very satisfied with this intelligence."
Old Joe hurriedly caught the medicine, his face immediately lighting up with a smile, as if he could already see his wonderful future.
He carefully tucked the medicine into his pocket, bowing and scraping as he said, "It's my pleasure, it's my pleasure! Well... then I'll go first..."
Before he could finish speaking, he prepared to slip away.
Just then—
"Whoosh—Buzz—Buzz—"
A muffled and suppressed rumble came from the depths of the abandoned experimental base, growing louder as it approached. It sounded like the start of some heavy machinery, or perhaps like the low growl of some giant beast before it awoke.
The night wind suddenly became violent, making people's clothes flutter loudly.
Old Joe's smile froze instantly, replaced by a deathly pale expression. His lips trembled, and his teeth chattered: "This...this is..."
Lu Zhaoming slowly raised his head and looked in the direction from which the sound came. There was no panic in his deep eyes, but rather a glint of amusement flashed in them, and the roguish smile on his lips became even more sinister.
"It seems our 'delivery' is a bit more lively than we expected."
"No...no! I'll talk! I'll talk!" Old Joe completely chickened out; greed finally overcame his pitiful professional ethics and fear.
He rummaged around in his pocket for a while before finally pulling out a crumpled, simple map drawn with charcoal on some kind of animal hide. He handed it over, his hand trembling slightly.
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